The recombinant library portals and people Improved access

The recombinant library: portals and people Improved access to library collections University of Oklahoma Libraries March 6 -7 Lorcan Dempsey, OCLC

Overview • Part one • Part two • Part three

Portal

Portal How the library mediates the engagement of users and resources in a network environment A density of resources and services on the network. A ‘bag’ or ‘portfolio’. “All vogue words tend to share a similar fate: the more experiences they pretend to make transparent, the more they themselves become opaque. ” Zygmunt Bauman

“Creative knowledge you can put in your pocket”

Library?

5 laws • Resources are for use – Needs to be easier! – A part of research, learning, cultural engagement • Each user his or her resource • Each resource its user – Release the value of resources in creative use • Save the time of the user – An obstacle course! – attention • The library is a growing organism – Extensible, flexible, . .

On the discrimination of portals

Portal Institutional repository Commercial resource Resource 2 Resource 4 Community repository • End user needs to – Know what is available – Learn multiple interfaces – Manually fuse results

Library portal approach … Resources Mediation Provide intermediate layers between user and resources. Manage multiple collections. Hide difference of underlying resources. Federate and fuse. Presentation Map onto user interests, maybe with personalization or community features.

A portal grid! Static Deep (Mediation/ Presentation) Flat (Presentation) Dynamic

Institutional repository Commercial resource Resource 2 Resource 4 Community repository Record fusion & Delivery enrichment Request Configuration Harvesting data Terminology Rights V. Ref services managemen Distributed query t Resolution Syndication Identity management Annotation Notification Presentation

Resources Mediation Utility services Portal application Presentation

Directory services Institutions Collections Services Policies Rights Resolution services Terminology services Identity services Authentication Authorization Resour ces Query; Harvest; Request; reference Present ation

Applications • Search – – Custom Distributed query (Z 39. 50, SRW/SRU) Harvest (OAI) Crawl • Link – Open. URL • Alert – RSS • Distributed request – ILL • Reference

Thoughts • Mediation expensive – Best examples hidden – licensed resources • We make little use of “data” • Confusion between local node and whole digital environment • One stop shop = one shop stop • Not “webby” enough • Business, service and technical architectures unclear – E. g. at what level to do “utility” services

Mediating the engagement between libraries and users Some random issues

lab books PDAs campus portal learning management systems exhibitions course material text book new scholarly resources reading lists user environments resource environment library shared cataloging, ILL Harvest licensed collections archiving virtual reference Content aggregation Resolution

Collections grid! stewardship high Books Journals low high Special collections Freely-accessible web resources uniqueness Newspapers Gov. docs DVD, Video Maps Scores low Rare books Local/Historical newspapers Local history materials Archives & Manuscripts, Theses & dissertations Open source software Newsgroup archives Research and learning materials • e. Prints/tech reports • Learning objects • Courseware • E-portfolios • Research data

Within and across institutions Links, … Z 39. 50, Open. URL, custom Emerging interest in harvesting • Streamline access to licensed resources (within institution) • Federate cultural heritage, research and learning materials (across institutions)

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Library - Champaign, IL $499, 440 2002 National Leadership Grants for Libraries - Research & Demonstration In this three-year research project, the Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will create a collection-level registry of digital collections created with IMLS funding from 1998 to 2005 and will research, design and implement a prototype item-level metadata repository service based on the Open Archives Initiative Metadata Harvesting Protocol.

Institutional realities • Portal envy – – Learning management system Campus portal Aggregators … • Proliferation of portals • Pitiful portal pretensions • A node in a network of services

Dynamic presentation

Research and learning

Service on demand – ‘threads/channels’ • Do a comprehensive literature search • Find 20 most heavily used resources on. . • Generate a reading list • What general material can I get this afternoon on … • Can you answer this question • Can you recommend some starting points for. . • Find commentaries on … • Can I comment on this resource • Can I create a reading list • I need images of x which I can use for this purpose • Who are the most cited authors on the web in x • Can I look for engineering drawings, previous experimental design, …

Portals • Recombinant library • Different modes of aggregation within and between institutions • Institutional proliferation of portals • Integration: Weave services into research and learning • Surface appropriate services when needed

So… • How do we effectively manifest library services on the network? • Services may be fine-grained or grouped in portfolios • It may (or may not) be sensible to bring services together in a library portal … • *and* in a learning management system, *and* in a reading list, *and* ….